Soldier who took a machine gun round to the head now has his helmet to prove it

Staff Sgt. Bryan McQueen and his wife Aaron McQueen stand with the Enhanced Combat Helmet he was wearing when he was shot in the head during an insider attack in Afghanistan on Sept. 3, 2018. (PEO Soldier)

McQueen felt what he could later only describe as a horse kick to the back of his head and he fell flat to the ground, landing on his face.

But in seconds he was on his feet with a simple question.

“Did these (expletive deleted) really just shoot me in the head?” he said.

What he would learn a short time later was that two rogue Afghan police within the formation had planned an attack once the group reached a vulnerable choke point. One opened fire with a Russian PK machine gun while another aimed to take out as many soldiers as possible with his AK-47.

Afghan soldiers captured the two attackers and they now face a trial for murder and attempted murder.

The 7.62x54mmR round from the truck-mounted machine gun struck the back of McQueen’s helmet, shredding some of the materials but not penetrating the shell.

Sign up for the Army Times Daily News RoundupDon't miss the top Army stories, delivered each afternoon

The F70 helmet can also accommodate Peltor hearing devices and additional facial protection.

By: Todd South

The ceremonies are conducted through congressional authorization to return the property to soldiers who were wounded once the service branch has completed its analysis of the equipment. The returns began in 2013. The last public ceremony for such a return was held in 2016. Since the inception of the program there have been 35 PPE returns to active duty soldiers. Current efforts are underway to allow for damage PPE to be returned to wounded veterans who used the gear.

For many years defense researchers and protective equipment programs have retrieved items such as body armor and helmets damaged by enemy fire on the battlefield for forensic analysis to improve current and future gear.

Brig. Gen. Anthony Potts, head of Program Executive Office Soldier, called the ceremony a chance to see the effect of the work that equipment programs do.

“The significance, in my mind, is for us as a family, it completes the circle,” Potts said.

From the officials who decide what the requirements are for the gear to the scientists who research materials to engineers who build it and soldiers who test it before it heads to a unit, the process is a seemingly endless cycle of tinkering and adjustments to meet their mission of protecting soldiers, he said.

The helmet that McQueen wore on the day of the attack was actually acquired by PEO Soldier from the Marine Corps. The Enhanced Combat Helmet began fielding in 2014.

“There is no doubt that Staff Sgt. McQueen would not have survived that impact had he not been wearing that helmet,” said Lt. Col. Ginger Whitehead, product manager for Soldier Protective Systems.

The 1st SFAB didn’t go unscathed that September day. They lost a long-serving soldier when Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Timothy Bolyard, 42, was killed in the Logar province insider attack. Another soldier, Cpl. Joseph Maciel, 20, died in a July insider attack on the same deployment.

Though the helmet withstood the impact of a machine gun round at a distance of about 20 feet, the newest helmets the Army is now fielding are even stronger and lighter, Whitehead said.

The Enhanced Combat Helmet worn by Staff Sgt. Bryan McQueen when he was shot in the head on Sept. 3, 2018 in an insider attack in Afghanistan. McQueen's first name is Steven, as shown on the plaque, but he goes by Bryan. (PEO Soldier)

The shooting made McQueen an instant convert.

Sitting next to a two-star general and alongside a colonel and lieutenant colonel all in charge of making gear to protect soldiers, he admitted his early skepticism.

“Before this incident, I thought the helmet … no offense guys … I thought the helmet was cumbersome and overkill,” he said. “I’ve even made the comment, and you can quote me on this, I would rather trade my (GI Bill) to wear a ball cap and a plate carrier.”

But all of that changed in the milliseconds it took for the design to save his life.

“This helmet works and I’m a living testament to it,” he said. He sees his experience and the helmet as a teaching tool to show his soldiers the value of using the gear, something he’ll ensure happens whenever they’re in a hostile environment.

The force of the round did cause a minor brain bleed but no permanent damage. He reached Kabul shortly after the incident and a doctor treating him said he should probably tell his wife what happened.

He’d been avoiding that.

And, months later, he admits with a chuckle that he probably didn’t handle it all that well.

“I sent her a text,” he said.

First he asked if she’d been contacted by anyone with the Family Readiness Group for the unit.

She said no. He said good. Then he let her know.

“I’m in the hospital in Kabul. I’m fine but I got shot in the head,” he texted.

Todd South is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War. He has written about crime, courts, government and military issues for multiple publications for more than a decade. In 2014, he was named a Pulitzer finalist for local reporting on a project he co-wrote about witness problems in gang criminal cases. Todd covers ground combat for Military Times.